A new poll from a pro-reform group conducted after voters cast ballots in Tuesday’s North Carolina races found that immigration mattered little when they decided who to favor — Ellmers or challenger Frank Roche, who centered his bid on the incumbent’s stance on immigration policy.

Text Size

-

+

reset

Ellmers’ position on immigration — which includes legalization of immigrants living in the United States unlawfully — made no difference for 59 percent of voters in their decision Tuesday, according to the poll. Fifteen percent of those polled said that stance made them more likely to support Ellmers, while 24 percent said it made them less likely.

Of the voters surveyed, 65 percent said they heard not much or nothing about Ellmers’ views on immigration reform, while 34 percent said they heard some or a lot about her stances. And just 6 percent of voters ranked immigration as their top issue when deciding whom to vote for, while 9 percent listed it as a second choice.

“It is clear that immigration was not a top tier issue for voters in this primary,” said Republican pollster Glen Bolger, whose firm Public Opinion Strategies conducted the survey for the pro-reform Partnership for a New American Economy, which was launched by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Immigration reform advocates had kept close tabs on the Ellmers-Roche battle, seeing it as the best — and perhaps the only — test case in the nation of how the issue of immigration would matter in a Republican primary. Roche, a long-shot candidate whose fundraising fell far short of Ellmers, focused his challenge on the two-term lawmaker’s general support for immigration reform.

The poll also showed considerable support for a path to legal status — with conditions — from Republican primary voters in North Carolina’s 2nd District, which Ellmers represents.

Seventy-one percent of voters surveyed said they support a plan that would include bolstered border security and enforcement provisions, as well as a legal status for undocumented immigrants if they pay penalties and back taxes, as well as learn English. Meanwhile, 25 percent say they would oppose such a plan.

That criteria are roughly along the lines of a pathway sketched out by House Republican leaders in their immigration principles released earlier this year. In addition to those requirements, the GOP principles called for undocumented immigrants to “admit their culpability” and pass background checks, as well as be able to support themselves and their families without accessing public benefits.

Generally speaking, 78 percent of people surveyed said it was either “somewhat” or “very” important for Congress to take up immigration reform this year. That compares with 21 percent who said it was “not very” or “not at all” important.

“Clearly, immigration reform is both smart policy and smart politics,” John Feinblatt, the Partnership’s chairman, said in a statement. “There is no reason for congressional inaction.”

The Public Opinion Strategies poll surveyed 400 Republican primary voters in North Carolina’s 2nd District and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percent.